Richmond City Council passes ‘liberal’ pot ordinance

Jars of medical marijuana are on display at a Richmond dispensary. File photo by Natalie Jones.

By Ian A. Stewart/RichmondConfidential.org

By the slimmest of margins, Richmond’s City Council voted Tuesday night to pass a significantly more liberal version of an ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries than originally planned.

The ordinance, which was constantly revised and amended throughout a tense, boisterous and at times comical council session that lasted until nearly 2 a.m., seeks to regulate how and where medical marijuana can be sold in the city. Despite the fact that Richmond is currently home to eight different pot dispensaries, the city has never formally regulated the suddenly booming business. City prosecutors have been filing cease-and-desist orders over the past several months to many Richmond dispensaries, and seeking civil injunctions against others for operating without a proper vendor’s permit.

The new ordinance, which still needs to make it through a second reading next week, will not limit the number of pot clubs allowed within the city limits – an important and controversial change from the draft ordinance’s original proposal of a three-dispensary limit. The amended ordinance also did away with plans to require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet away from each other, and for the police department to oversee the permitting process, instead handing that duty to the city’s administrator.

While the move seemed to please many in the standing-room-only crowd – many of whom spoke on behalf of the city’s dispensaries – it clearly didn’t sit well with everyone on the council.

“What we’re seeing is a move to make Richmond the regional center of [medical marijuana distribution],” Councilman Butt said. “At the end of the day, though, it’s just about money and greed. These dispensary owners are being disingenuous, they’re confused, and most of them are carpet-baggers who come to Richmond because they thought they could get their nose under the tent and run their business here.”